UN Appoints Committee to Probe Israeli Apartheid
The United Nations appointed a five-member ad hoc committee to probe Israeli acts of racial discrimination against the Palestinian people in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Thursday.
The UN decision is the latest step in a procedure that began in 2018 when the Palestinian Authority filed a charge of apartheid, complaining that Israel was out of compliance with Articles 2, 3 and 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NrZWxldG9uX2xvYWRpbmdfMTMzOTgiOnsiYnVja2V0IjoiY3RhIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19zcGFjZV9jYXJkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9mZiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1494433371832795161&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.palestinechronicle.com%2Fun-appoints-committee-to-probe-israeli-apartheid%2F&sessionId=69c09a1f812a24eff9b5e03f57b5e841b8cc9b59&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2582c61%3A1645036219416&width=550px
Both the State of Palestine and Israel are signatories to the Convention, and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) is the body of independent experts that monitors the implementation by state parties and their compliance with the convention.
Article 3 binds signatories to “condemn racial segregation and apartheid and undertake to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature in territories under their jurisdiction.”
The UN said in a statement that the commission “will offer its good offices to both the State of Palestine and Israel with a view to resolving the dispute over allegations of racial discrimination amicably.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NrZWxldG9uX2xvYWRpbmdfMTMzOTgiOnsiYnVja2V0IjoiY3RhIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19zcGFjZV9jYXJkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9mZiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1494605357926301697&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.palestinechronicle.com%2Fun-appoints-committee-to-probe-israeli-apartheid%2F&sessionId=69c09a1f812a24eff9b5e03f57b5e841b8cc9b59&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2582c61%3A1645036219416&width=550px
The statement pointed out that the commission is composed of five human rights experts, namely Verene Shepherd, Gün Kut, Pansy Tlakula, Chinsung Chung and Michał Balcerzak.
“The appointees are independent of any government or organization and serve in their individual capacities,” the statement stressed.
(The Palestine Chronicle )